


We Are So Complete

by c00kie



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Hate to Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-01 23:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5224457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00kie/pseuds/c00kie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ben moves to Pawnee during his junior year of high school, he doesn’t like much except making a little blond angry. Something about the possibility of falling in love with her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Are So Complete

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks to Ashisfriendly for her friendship and wisdom.

He’s putting his books into his new locker when he hears a female voice say, “You’re blocking my locker.”

“Oh sorry,” Ben says as he continues to organize his locker. “I’m almost done.”

Two seconds go by. “I don’t have all day. Some of us have to get to class.”

"In a second." There's still twenty minutes before the first bell. He'd gotten to Pawnee Central High early so he could get his schedule and organize his locker the way he wanted and look for his classrooms without feeling rushed. It was bad enough he had to live here and go to this school, he didn't want to be the new kid who everyone thought was an idiot.

He hears her huff and he glances down at her American Flag All Stars as they tap impatiently. Her face is blocked by the door, but he can see she's wearing shorts and a blue blouse. He wishes he'd worn shorts, but he hadn't expected it to be so hot the first week of September or for there to be no air conditioning.

Or maybe he died and this is Hell. That's also a possibility.

"Go faster."

It might be because he doesn't like her tone, it might be because her shoes are cute and her legs are short and tanned, it might be because he's already mad that he has to be here in the first place, but he decides to go slower. He even moves things around and pretends to think hard about placement.

When the first bell rings, Ben declares himself finished, shuts his locker and smiles at her. She’s a good eight inches shorter than him, her arms are crossed and she’s the prettiest girl he’s met in this weird as fuck town. “I’m Ben.”

“I don’t care what your name is,” she says pushing him out out the way to kneel down on the floor to open her locker. "I’m going to be late for Algebra.”

"Well, I'm Going To Be Late For Algebra, it's really nice to meet you." It's either make a terrible joke or throw up all the butterflies gathered in his stomach. Option one seems best, by like, a lot.

She slams her locker door shut and springs up, standing close enough that he can count the freckles on her nose. "Look, I don't know who you think you are-"

"Ben, Ben Wyatt. And you're-you know, your name is too long, mind if I just call you Al?"

She lets out a rather inhuman screech and stomps away. Ben calls out to her, "You can call me-"

"Shut it, Betty."

He smiles. Score one for Pawnee.

-

It’s through some low level detective work that he finds out her name.

Okay, he overhears someone call her Leslie.

But he also learns other important information from observation. She’s addicted to sugar, her best friend is a girl named Ann, and she likes something called Lil’ Sebastian. At first Ben thinks it’s a local band. He's rather dismayed when he finds out it's a pony.

“He’s a mini horse and he’s a national treasure!”

“How can he be a national treasure if I’ve never heard of him?” Ben asks, both because he really doesn’t understand and also because the way her nose crinkles when she’s mad is adorable.

"Probably because the pit of hell you came from doesn't have cable, how am I supposed to know?"

"If any place is a pit of hell, it's this place."

Her eyes grow comically huge and her voice takes a deep tone that actually frightens him. "What did you say?"

Ben shrugs. "I'm saying Pawnee is…" He searches for the right word. Fucked up? Weird? Full of people who don't know when to stop eating Greasy Lard Bombs? Has a restaurant that sells something called a Greasy Lard Bomb? Contains crazy blondes that make him forget all about Cindy Eckert back home? "Not special."

She looks like he personally insulted her. "You will pay for that."

Ben shrugs again and puts his backpack over his shoulder. "Yeah, okay."

"Wow," the kid with the locker beside him exhales. "Last time someone insulted Pawnee, she punched them."

"PIKITIS!"

Ben turns in the direction of Leslie's screech and sees a freshman wave to her and wink. She starts to run after him, and without thinking about it, Ben goes after her, grabs her shirt and pulls her back.

"Let me go, jerk."

"I don't think anything he did was worth you grinding your teeth at him." He keeps his hand on her, just in case.

"He vandalized the End of the World Dance poster."

"You sure it was him?" What the fuck is an End of the World Dance?

"Oh, I know it was him. It's always him."

Ben wonders just how many dudes besides him and Pikitis get her angry on purpose.

"Let go of me."

He removes his hand and she straightens her shirt. "Sorry."

Leslie ignores his apology. He tells himself he doesn't mean it anyway.

-

Ben goes to to the dance because he's curious and he figures it's better than staying home and watching claymation all night. As soon as he gets there though, he regrets it. Not only is the music bad, but it's obvious from the way everyone keeps yelling, "Hail Zorp," that there's an inside joke that he just does not understand.

Plus, he can see Leslie dancing in the center of the room with Ann and several other girls. There's a tall skinny dude with big hair dancing beside them, but he's  pretty much being ignored by the girls. Leslie turns his way, allowing him to see the way her curls bounce, as well as other parts of her, and for a minute he thinks she smiles at him, but then another girl walks past him, running toward Leslie's open arms.

He goes home ten minutes later and spends the rest of the night watching "Wallace and Gromit" shorts in his bedroom.

-

If Ben fantasizes about her yelling at him while naked and on top of him, that’s his business.

-

Ben manages to make friends. There's Barney, who looks at Ben like he hung the moon, and Garth, who has a lot of opinions about the X-Men, and even Tom, his locker neighbor, isn't so bad. Tom even introduces him to Chris and Andy. Chris is on a track team that only exists because he's so ridiculously good looking and charming that he convinced the Principal to let it continue even though he's the only person on it, and Andy, who as soon as Ben mentions Leslie, lights up.

"Oh, Leslie? She's the coolest. I owe her my life." Andy doesn't explain what he means by that, and Ben doesn't ask.

It turns out that everyone is team Leslie, including Pikitis.

Including Ben, when it comes down to it.

-

He's walking through the courtyard when he sees a long line and people eating various treats. Hungry and figuring there must be a bake sale, Ben gets into line. When he gets to the front he's surprised, but not shocked, to see Leslie sitting next to Ann. She smiles at everyone as they sign their names on a piece of paper on the table and take a treat. He can see there are cookies, rice crispy treats, brownies, and popcorn balls. He hopes there's a popcorn ball left. When he's next, her smile instantly disappears.

"I'll have a toffee popcorn ball," he says as he signs his name on the paper. "What am I signing over anyway? My soul?"

"You don't have one of those," Leslie says grabbing the popcorn ball out of Ann's hand before she can give it to him. "And you don't get one."

"But I just gave you my soul."

"I don't care," Leslie says, crossing her arms over her chest. "You're a jerk and I don't give treats to jerks."

"Leslie-" Ann says, but Leslie's resolute.

Ben grabs a popcorn ball from the bottom, making the carefully made pyramid fall and walks away.

She doesn't yell at him the way she yells at Pikitis. Ben's not sure if that's a good thing or not.

-

It turns out the signatures were for class elections. Leslie needed at least eighty to run, and if the rumors were true, she barely got them and doesn't have a chance of winning anyway, since her opponent is Bobby Newport, the most popular guy in the school.

But if Ben knows anything about his tiny nemesis/crush, it's that she never gives up.

"How can you say that school elections don't matter?"

"They don't," her friend Ron's locker is on the other side of the hallway. He has three classes with the guy and this is the most he's ever hear him speak. "They're a waste of time and resources. We should be learning how to build canoes." Ben wonders how that could possibly be useful.

"You're wrong," Leslie says, and he knows that tone. He's been on the receiving end of it way more times than he can count. So he watches as Leslie goes on about how school elections are important because they get kids excited about government and politics, to which Ron giggles as if it's the funniest thing he's ever heard.

The next day, Leslie gives Ron a plate of brownies and a hug and it makes Ben realize that even though hate sex with her would be great, he wants more. He wants to be her friend. He wants brownies. He wants a hug.

And for her to be naked while she’s doing it.

So he goes on the offense.

He buys her candy.

“The machine gave me two, you want one?” Ben lies, offering her the candy bar.

She looks skeptical for a minute but then says, “Okay, thanks," and walks away. He sees her take a bite of it though, so he counts it as a victory.

A few days later, he gets her a small stuffed unicorn: “I won it at a carnival, (True) and I was going to give it my sister (Lie) but she doesn't really like unicorns (True), but I know you have unicorns on your binders so I thought maybe you'd like it." (True)

“Thanks.” She hugs it to her chest and gives him a smile that makes his heart race.

He compliments her. “You were great in that debate. You should have won. That Bobby guy is an idiot.”

“I was!” Her eyes are like the tip of a flame and make Ben’s stomach burn. “He is an idiot! I should demand a recount-” he reaches out and quickly grabs the hood of her red sweater and pulls her back.

"Save it for next year. Senior class President is the one you really want, right?"

Leslie exhales. He’s half surprised fire or smoke doesn’t come out. “Fine. But next year  I’m crushing him.”

He should not be so turned on by this.

-

Both the weather and Leslie cool off in October. He wouldn't say he and Leslie are friends, but she tolerates him and doesn't call him a jerk anymore, so Ben thinks of as a step in the right direction. First step: Get her to not hate him. Second step: Get her to make out with him.

"Hey, Wyatt, get over here."

Ben follows the sound of Ann's voice, but he doesn't see her. A hand grabs him and pulls him around the corner.

"Um-" Ann's pretty and all, but he's smart enough to know that making out with a girl's best friend is like the number one way to get them to hate you forever. "You're nice and-"

"Shut up. Do you want to get with Leslie or not?"

Ben wonders if he's that obvious. "Yes?"

"Go to JJ's diner tomorrow before school, ask for the Leslie. She'll be in the study hall tomorrow morning."

"That's in the cafeteria right?"

Ann nods. "I gotta go."

Ben's confused, but the next morning after he drops Stephanie off at her middle school, he goes to JJ's. He's been there a few times, mostly after a night of drinking beer and playing video games in Andy's basement.

"What can I get you?" The man behind the counter, the JJ, according to his nametag asks.

"Um, I'll have the Leslie?" Ben feels like he's in a spy movie. He wonders if JJ will slide him a manila envelope full of cash next.

"Sure. Anything else?"

What he wants are blueberry pancakes, since he's not sure what the Leslie is, but then he remembers how she promised to make the school start selling waffles in the cafeteria if elected so he figures it's probably that.

And well, he has a plan. "Make it two."

"You got it."

Ten minutes later, JJ gives him a bag full of two styrofoam boxes and various containers. There's whipped cream, a brown substance that's probably hot fudge, strawberries, cherries, and sprinkles. Sprinkles? Really?

When he gets to school, he goes to his locker first and puts the books he doesn't need until after lunch inside. Then, Ben goes to the cafeteria to find her. It doesn't take long, as she's sitting alone, nose inside a book.

He sits on the other side of the table.

"I'm busy. Unless you're better at Spanish than I am, I'd-" she inhales and looks up. "Are those waffles?" she asks as he removes everything from the bag.

"Yeah, I got extra, you want some?"

Leslie squints at the containers. "Wait, is this the Leslie?"

"Is it? I didn't know it had a name. I just asked for this stuff," Ben says as he pours the hot fudge onto his waffle. He's going to have to eat salad for the rest of the day. And go jogging with Chris.

"Yeah, okay." She laughs, clearly not believing him. "Thanks."

He owes Ann a million favors.

-

On Halloween, Ben goes to school dressed as himself. The hallways though are filled with witches and guys wearing rubber masks of various celebrities and more sexy cat costumes then he can count. He even sees Ann, dressed as Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz."

Leslie's already at her locker, crouched down carefully in her skirt and blouse. Over her shoulder is a sash. Beside her on the floor is a large floppy hat.

"So," he says, leaning against Tom's locker, "Halloween is a thing here, huh?"

She pushes her binder into her bag and stands. "Why aren't you dressed up?"

Ben reads her Votes for Women sash and smiles. It figures Leslie would dress as a suffragette. "Yeah, well, I wasn't aware I was supposed to."

"Common sense," she says, "but don't worry I can fix this."

Ben wasn't aware it was something that needed to be fixed. "You know, it's-" He's about to say okay, but she's already digging through her locker again for something. "You have a shirt under your plaid right?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Take your plaid off."

This might be the only time he gets to hear her say it, so he unbuttons his shirt, still really unsure of what's going on. She glances at him and says, "Yeah okay, I can work with that."

That's when he sees can of mousse. She sprays some into her hand and stands on her tiptoes, running it through his already styled hair.

"Great. Now kneel down and close your eyes."

There's a beat in between the action because Ben needs a moment to calm down. He looks at her hand again, sees an eyeliner pencil.

"Now," she says as he does what he asks, because he's afraid she might stab him if he doesn't and he would do whatever she asked anyway, "I'm not as good as Ann is with makeup but I should be able to do this."

He tries his best not to move or blink or come in his pants as she holds his face with one hand and draws a black line on his eyelids with the other.

He once touched Cindy Eckert's boob. It doesn't even begin to compare to this.

"Okay done," Leslie declares. "You make an alright rockstar. It's too bad your hair isn't blonde, you could pass for Billy Idol."

Ben gives Leslie his best Billy Idol sneer.  Leslie though, just stares at him for a few seconds, grabs her bag and says, "I gotta go!" and runs away.

-

After that, things get weird. Leslie doesn't yell at him anymore, but she looks at him differently now, like she's wants to eat him alive.

Ben's pretty sure he would be okay with that.

-

“You’re good at math right?”

Ben moves out of the way, leaving his locker open. “Um yeah-”

A large hand belonging to one of the football players reaches out and slams Ben’s locker closed. This doesn’t surprise him at all, what does is how fast Leslie springs up and runs toward the jock.

“Hey you! Number 96!”

Number 96 turns around. He’s a giant, even compared to Ben, which means he’s a super giant next to Leslie.

Leslie though, shows no fear at all. She just stares up at the guy who could probably bench press at least three of her. “You apologize to him, right now.”

“Or what? What are you gonna do about it?”

Ben’s close enough that he can see the way 96 is looking at her, like he wants to pick her up and carry her up the Empire State building.

“You know,” Ben says, trying to keep his voice even as he comes up behind Leslie. “It’s cool, bro. I’m not mad or-”

“Well I am,” Leslie seethes.

“Yeah well,” Ben laughs as he puts his hand on her back. She isn’t wearing a hoodie but he can still pull her by her sweater if he needs to. “It’s all good. You know I used to play baseball where I lived-”

“Baseball is dumb.”

“Of course it is. Football all the way, right?”

“Basketball is better,” Leslie says.

“Oh, definitely,” Ben agrees, just as 96 does the same. “Did you see that play Roy Hibbert made last week?”

“Yeah,” 96 laughs and Ben smells Funyuns on his breath. “That was cool. You know, you’re not bad, dorkosaurus. I’ll see you around. Keep your girlfriend on a leash.”

“On a leash?”

“Come on,” Ben says, pulling her shirt until she starts walking back with him on her own. “You said something about math?”

“Oh, right. Yeah, I was wondering if you would help me. After school? At my house?”

Ben thinks it’s a sign of personal growth that he doesn’t throw up on her shoes. “Oh, yeah. Definitely.”

-

"She was mad that he said I need to keep her on a leash and not that he called her my girlfriend. that means something right?"

His friends stare at him with varying degrees of pity. There's a silence as he waits for someone to respond, to give him advice about how to proceed.

"Are you going to eat that mac and cheese, J-shot?"

Ben sighs and shoves his tray over to Jean-Ralphio.

-

Ben isn't nervous when he arrives at Leslie's house. No, he's something far worse than that. He's not even sure there's a word or a way to describe how he's feeling. In just a matter of minutes, Ben is going to be inside Leslie Knope's house, presumably alone with her, tutoring her in his favorite subject.

She answers the door before he can throw up in the rose bushes.

"Hi!"

"Hey," Ben says, trying to seem cool and collected. "What's up?"

"Not much," she replies, moving to let him in. He walks inside. Her house is nice. The furniture is a soft sable color and comfortable looking. He breathes in the scent of chocolate and sugar.

"Are you baking?"

"I made you chocolate chip cookies," Leslie says, leading him to the kitchen where there's a plate of a dozen or so just out of the oven chocolate chip cookies. "I wasn't sure what your favorite kind was but I figure everyone likes chocolate chip. And I know you like popcorn balls but I'm out of popcorn so…" She shrugs and she's so cute he doesn't tell her that he's never really been a huge fan of chocolate chip.

"Wow. Thanks."

"No, Thank you," Leslie says, touching his arm. "You're saving my life."

He wants to say something. He wants to make a joke. But her eyes are too blue and his arm is still tingling and she made him cookies.

Ben has never been more in love with anyone in his life. And he's counting his ten year old crush on Mrs. Brady.

"So, you ready?" she asks.

He takes a bite of a cookie and nods, gesturing for her to lead the way.

He notices they're alone. He's pretty sure his mom would never allow him to be alone with a girl in their house, even if it was in the living room and for school.

Like an idiot, Ben asks her about it.

Leslie rolls her eyes. "Mom has way better things to do than worry about me being alone with a boy. Besides, I'm on birth control and responsible."

He puts her math book on his lap. "Right, okay. Let's do this."

She sits right next to him on the couch, close enough that their legs touch and he can smell vanilla coming off her skin.

Math. Think about math. "So, uh, what seems to be the problem? Get it? Problem?" Shut up Ben.

"Percentages," Leslie replies, ignoring his pun. It's okay though, it wasn't one of his better ones.

"Oh, those are easy. Let's see."

As the minutes tick by, Ben explains percentages as best he can given that she's watching him, that her knee is touching his.

"Okay so you just have to convert this to a percent, which is really easy, once you know-"

"Mmhmm."

"Okay like take this one, seven over ten. All you have to is divide the seven by ten, then multiply the answer by one hundred, which is seventy. I know that's easy but it's just an example-"

“God, you’re sexy when you talk about percentages." She throws the book off him, climbs into his lap and kisses him like it might be illegal tomorrow. And it’s great, best thing to ever happen to him really, but then she pulls back and says, “You’re my boyfriend now.”

He barely gets out his, “Okay,” before Leslie’s kissing him again.

-

There are a lot of perks to being Leslie’s boyfriend. Kisses, gifts, cookies, more kisses, but with great power also comes great responsibility, a fact proven when they go to a Pawnee versus Eagleton basketball game.

It’s a slaughter. He hates thinking it, but Eagleton’s team is taller and far more skilled than Pawnee Central High. He wishes he were home watching anything else.

“Oh come on!” Leslie yells when a player from Eagleton pushes one of the Puppies and doesn't get called for it.

“What's wrong, Leslie?” Ben turns around to see a girl who’s clearly from Eagleton adjust her headband.

“What are you doing over here, Lindsay?”

“I wanted front row seats to see your face when we win, but I don't think it's worth getting Pawnee sweat all over my Michael Kors' boots.”

“Oh fuck-” As she starts to rise, Ben grabs her hood and pulls her back down and does what any responsible person would do, turning Leslie’s head so he can kiss her. While he distracts her, he gestures for someone to get Lindsay to leave.

She’s dazed for a second when he pulls back, but then her expression changes. For a second, Ben’s not sure if she’s angry or turned on, but then she says, "Let's go, Wyatt," and he has his answer.

-

One day, Ben goes to her house and instead of going into the kitchen for a snack or straight to the couch, Leslie takes his hand and leads him upstairs to her room.

Her room is light blue and white and there are stuffed animals everywhere and posters on the wall, but he doesn't get a chance to look at them because she's pulling him down to her level.

After that it's a blur of clothes coming off and skin rubbing against skin and Ben feeling clumsy and ridiculous even as Leslie encourages him with a soft breathy voice.

Once, Ben's older brother gave him the advice that if he was ever with a girl, he should, "Take his time."

At the time it was disgusting, but right now it's extremely useful. And, as it turns out, extremely worth it.

-

"Happy Birthday," she says, holding up a beautifully wrapped box. "And our two month anniversary, respectfully." Ben waits, pretty sure she's not done yet. "And national bologna day, but that's gross.Open it!"

"It's also the anniversary of the founding of the United Nations,"  Ben reminds her, only for her to exhale, exclaim he's the sexiest man alive and push him into the lockers. He holds his gift in one hand, her waist with the other.

"This is a school," a nameless teacher reminds them as he walks past. Leslie's face is crimson, clearly afraid she's in trouble, but the teacher is no longer there.

"Should I go apolo- what if he-" Ben grabs her hoodie and pulls her back.

"It's okay, Leslie."

She takes a deep breath and nods. "You're cute and you're right." Another exhale and she smiles again. "Okay. Open your present."

Ben opens the box carefully, revealing what looks like a dragon egg from "Game of Thrones".

"It's a cookie jar!" Leslie explains. "There are snickerdoodles in it."

He's left breathless. “How-”

“I asked your mom. Do you like it?” Even if he didn't, he would still say yes because her face is so eager and beautiful and he wants to make her happy, forever. But he actually really does love it.

“Yes,” he says, leaning down to kiss her. “Thank you.”

"I also got you something else." Leslie pulls out a popcorn ball wrapped in blue cellophane. "There's toffee inside."

"I love you." He says it without meaning to, but before Ben can take it back, Leslie beams and stands up on the tip of her toes, lips meeting his again until the five minute bell rings.

-

Pawnee is still a weird as fuck town, but it has Leslie Knope and for right now, that's enough.

  
  
  



End file.
